What is DNS?

What is DNS?

DNS, which stands for Domain Name System, controls your domain name’s website and email settings. When visitors go to your domain name, its DNS settings control which company’s server it reaches out to. For example, if you use 123-REG’s DNS settings, visitors will reach the 123-REG servers when using your domain name. If you change those settings to user another company’s servers, visitors will reach them instead of us when visiting your domain.

It’s critical that your IT support provider has full administrator access to your company’s DNS platform as it has many different elements that control different aspects of your domain name. Here’s a quick explanation of each one:

DNS Element

Description

Nameserver

Nameservers “point” your domain name to the company that controls its DNS settings. Usually, this will be the company where you registered the domain name.

However, if your website is hosted by another company, sometimes they will provide nameservers you need to point to instead.

Zone File

Zone Files are simply the files that store all of your domain’s DNS settings.

Your domain name’s Zone File is stored on the company’s nameserver.

A Record

A Records point your domain name to an individual server using an IP address. An example IP address is 123.4.77.4.

Every domain name has a primary A Record called “@,” which controls what your domain name does when some visits it directly.

You can also use A Records to point subdomains (for example subdomain.joebloggs.com) to a server’s IP address.

CNAME

CNAMEs point your subdomains to another server using a server name, like server1.123-reg.com.